6/1/10

I just can not believe how quickly this year is going by. For crying out loud, it’s already June! I'm never going to have enough time to finish all those projects at the shop, especially at the rate I'm “working” on them. But enough of that, here’s what went down over the long holiday weekend. Friday, when I got home from work, there was a package. It was the composite stock and fore end for the Auto 5! I installed them and the gun looks like new. I'm tempted to go to the skeet range and try it out. That was one thing I did not do over the weekend. Saturday morning I picked John up and we went to the gun show. It was kind of weird. I'm used to being the one “rushing” through the event waiting on Larry. This time it seemed like John was rushing through and having to wait on me. Of course he thought the opposite when I pointed it out but it appears that we were just looking at different stuff. I was on an Auto 5 and 7mm Mauser “hunt” and he was looking at handguns. I did see several Auto 5s by the way and one Mauser. The dude selling it said that my gun’s “missing” third lug on the bolt indicates a LATER date because they deleted the third lug to save money during the war. That opposes the information I read that said the third lug was added in 1898 to “strengthen” the action. Of course, a later date also makes sense from the condition of the gun and the style of how it was sporterized. I don't know, nor do I care. It’s my “reach out and touch someone” gun and I like it. So there. Anyhoo, we walked the whole show but didn't buy anything. The Travel Agents were there with “my” .45 Colt Lever-Action Carbine again. I almost gave in to temptation but managed to walk away once more. I really want that gun. There was a Druganov there tempting the hell out of me but I think I'm going to be able to resist them from now on too. I hope. From the gun show we went to Blood Bath & Beyond to look for a scope for the Mauser. Yeah, I know last week I said I was going to call it “Thunder Stick.” I decided that was a tad too... well, gay. I may reverse that decision next time I shoot it. We'll see. We walked up to the scope counter and then, for some reason, decided to go to Academy. We left without even talking to anyone. I'm sure it looked extremely odd. At Academy I spoke to the gun dudes and was sold a Leupold made scope and some mounting rings. They said it would take fifteen minutes to mount and bore-sight the thing. An hour later I walked out with it. First off, the rear “iron” sights were too tall and they had to go wit taller rings. Then the mounts on my gun were so “whopper jawed” that they needed a more adjustable set. Once they had the thing mounted, it wouldn't sight in. He swapped rings front to back and it got better. Once some shims from the ring kit were added, it sighted in fine. $184.00 later and I have a scoped snip... um, I mean hunting rifle. I dropped John off at his house and went home. I took a quick nap and a shower then went to Rob’s for the birthday cookout and to watch Ultimate Fighting Championship on Pay Per View. Most of the fights were kind of dull except for one. I think it was a Light Heavyweight bout, but I'm not sure. Anyhoo, there was this one super muscled dude fighting this slightly pudgy, doughy dude. The first two rounds were all muscle dude. The Pilsbury Doughboy took lots of hits but kept on going. It was much like Homer Simpson’s fighting style. Then, in the middle of the third round, Pop-N-Fresh bounced his knuckles off the side of muscle man’s head and just turned his lights out. Fight over. Joe Rogan, one of the announcers, summed it up perfectly when he said, “If that had been in a movie you would say, ‘Shut up! That couldn't happen!’” Now, the funniest part was, the one person in the room who is into UFC is Rob. He was in the bathroom when it happened! After the main event, a bout between B. A. Baracus from the new “A-Team” movie and some other dude, I headed home. Oh, I drove The Seven to the cookout by the way. I really like that car. Sunday morning mom lays a guilt trip on me for “abandoning” her all day Saturday so when Larry calls to see if I'm going to the gun show, I have to turn him down. Oh, turns out I didn't have to baby sit Navajo on Sunday as he was meeting up with an old friend from college. Mom and I had lunch and then I got a call from Gregg. He was invited to a pool party on Monday afternoon and was wondering if we could move Super Karate-Monkey Death Car early Monday. I told him I was free Sunday so we agreed to move it after the Indy 500. I dozed through that and then headed over to his house. I swung by the shop and picked up the trailer and straps then rolled toward the airport. I found his place and had a look at the BMW he bought. It is a BMW 2002 with an Alpina conversion. It has a straight six, 2.5-2.8 cast into the side of the block, triple Weber DCOEs, huge box flares, and steam-roller sized tires. It has been sitting for a while and will need to be gone through, but it looks like a steal at the $1,000.00 he paid for it. We loaded Super Karate-Monkey Death Car on my trailer then rolled the BMW into his garage. I headed back to the shop and then home. Monday was a total waste. Mom and I went to Wal-Mart for cat food and litter and then had some lunch. When we got home, there was a message from my oldest brother saying that “they” were at the Fort Worth Zoo and wanted to come by for dinner. “They” were Bruce, Mel, John, Jessica, and Peggy, my brother, sister-in-law, nephew, niece-in-law, and great niece. That’s only five people by the way. Anyhoo, they hung out at the house with us for a bit then we all went to Joe’s Pizza and Pasta. After that I watched my Monday evening stories and now we’re here at work. So, I guess that’s about all I have to say. Talk to y'all tomorrow, probably.